Age = Experience?

[Anna_09]

Ooops! Sorry. My mistake. This is what happens when you read posts too fast. My apologies.

Haha, its alright. I"m just kinda tired of looking stupid, so yeah. But I'm glad I can see everyone's views. Everyone has given me a lot to think about. For right now though, I enjoy being new, and learning a lot from other people. Its amazing what I've learned, just by asking other people's opinions.

[Mateo_1387]

Yeah, I've thought about that before. But honestly....here's me. I'm a 17 year old girl who, if I just lived life, would let other people walk all over her, and be too generous for my own good. I'd rather have a job where I'm able to help people, and not partying. I'm not saying I don't do anything fun....I go to carnivals, go to the movies, hang out with friends, and work as a convience store clerk on the side. Its just that I love to be able to help people. I'm not saying that this will be my only profession...I want to be a nurse.

I just believe its better for me to start at the bottom and work my way up, because if you just go straight to the top, you tend to look down on the less qualified. I've seen that for a fact....RN's looking down on CNA's, and paramedics looking down on Basics. *Not all do, but some tend to have the mindset "I've been in this longer than you have, I have more schooling than you have, so what you think means nothing to me"* I don't want to be like that, so I will always try to appreciate everyone, no matter what level I get to.

It was never said that living and learning means that you will be walked all over. Living life is going to develop your sense of individuality, shape your personality, mold your morals, and understand your personal standards. You are just entering the gray area between teenager and adult. I think this is what people mean when they say you get experience with age. My point is that you should be focusing on this stage of your development with openness to learning and improving upon yourself. EMS, IMO, will drag you away from that important goal/vital time in your development. What I am trying to get across to you is deeper than 'I want to help everyone'. This is about your transition into adulthood. This is not about answering the next adrenaline pumping call. Those calls will always be there. Your time right now, spent doing EMS will not be given back to you.

[Anna_09]

It was never said that living and learning means that you will be walked all over. Living life is going to develop your sense of individuality, shape your personality, mold your morals, and understand your personal standards. You are just entering the gray area between teenager and adult. I think this is what people mean when they say you get experience with age. My point is that you should be focusing on this stage of your development with openness to learning and improving upon yourself. EMS, IMO, will drag you away from that important goal/vital time in your development. What I am trying to get across to you is deeper than 'I want to help everyone'. This is about your transition into adulthood. This is not about answering the next adrenaline pumping call. Those calls will always be there. Your time right now, spent doing EMS will not be given back to you.

Thats true, and if this helps...I do try to find a balance. Sometimes its hard, but yes, I do try. Haha...and from everyone I've been talking to (besides the EMT's here, where I live)...they think I should drop EMS, and just do strictly nursing. I could never choose between them...but I'm sure there's a middle there somewhere...like a critical care nurse...or something like that?

Edited May 12, 2009 by Anna_09

[Mateo_1387]

First of all, your right...haha, I'll shut my mouth before I end up looking too stupid. And second...when did I say that I saved a life? He told me that at 17, I should be living my own life, and not be too worried about the EMS profession. I said that if I lived life, and not cared about EMS, I would basically just let people walk all over me (I already do), and be too generous for my own good (I already am)

Anyways...I don't want to look stupid anymore...so I'm shutting my mouth. Thanks again everyone, for everything. You've opened my eyes to a lot of stuff...not just "small town thinking".

EMS is not going to be a fix to your problems in dealing with other people. Being walked all over (and over generous) is not dependent upon you being an EMT. I fail to see the association. Would you please explain it?

[Anna_09]

EMS is not going to be a fix to your problems in dealing with other people. Being walked all over (and over generous) is not dependent upon you being an EMT. I fail to see the association. Would you please explain it?

Oh, sorry for not explaining earlier. Umm, so far in my life...lets just say I've trusted people I shouldn't have (haha..I've almost been married to a guy I went out with for 2 years. He decided that he was gonna be unfaithful, I caught him...and that just didn't work out) , and I tend to be too nice for my own good. EMS has opened me up a LOT, and has brought me out of my shell. Haha, one of my mentors was telling me "You need to learn to say no!"...and the other day, she told me "Well, you're getting a lot better than you were!" Its my own fault I let people walk all over me, I hate conflict. But I'm getting better at that. EMS has opened me up. If I wasn't dealing with patients all the time, and learning how to communicate effectively, I would be just like any other teenage who feels "misunderstood" because they can't explain how they feel.

[HERBIE1]

The point about not knowing what you don't know is HUGE. At any age, many times when we are starting out in this business, we do not know if we are being led down the wrong path by a preceptor or a mentor. The younger you are, the more difficult it is to tell the difference between proper instruction and a bum steer- you simply have no point of reference yet.

I am hopeful you get proper instruction and guidance- both on and off the job. The problem is, we get absorbed in this business and due to it;s nature, much of our social lives revolve around people who do what we do. At 17, you need a broader perspective on life than that.

[Richard B the EMT]

In the hope that a new-jack gets a decent preceptor, I thought I noted someone say

Experience is the best experience.

If one is not allowed to do a task, because they have not done the task already, to me, anyway, that rates as a "Fail". After all, that follows a line that I read when I was in my pre-teen years:

Don't go into the water until you learn how to swim!

[AnthonyM83]

There is so much to learn in this world. EMS will distract you from that. I believed 22 years was old enough for me to be a paramedic. Sure, I can do the job, and I do it well, but I should not be wiping puke off some old person that fell at 3am. This is the time for me to keep exploring my boundaries, build my own life standards, gain life experience, and become the best damn person I can be. I feel at 17, your goals should be similar. You should be focused on your life of a 17 year old, having friends your age, learning to build your own values and standards, and living life to the fullest. There will be plenty of time down the road that you can spend doing EMS.

EMS is not all that bad. I would not trade what has been taught to me, and the experience gained from being a young paramedic. It definitely has shaped my life. The only thing is that I should be doing this at a later point in life. Being young is a special time. Becoming an adult and learning the idiosyncrasies of adulthood is much more important than EMS.

I strongly back up what Mateo said.

Yet, I also get what you're saying about EMS letting you come out of your shell and be a stronger person.

I started off a similar way volunteering at a police department. Looking back, I did spend too much time there instead of out with friends getting in trouble. BUT it was the guys at the PD who were so the opposite of me, that contributed to my people skills, confidence, sense of fun, and eventual maturity (not because they're necessarily mature, but it was an adult work place).

So...I can see you not wanting to get away with that. But heed the warning about the CORE of your life being away from that EMS service. Especially, if even they're telling you similar things (go concentrate on nursing and school, not the volly service).

Oh, and as far shielding her from calls.

I'm going to assume they're doing that based on her maturity level in real life. I noticed a definite change on how I was treated at the PD and what I was allowed to participate in on the streets. And it was NOT based on time-on-the-job...it was based on my immaturity/maturity level. I could probably consider myself the department's adopted child and 2nd set of parents (providing me with what my real parents didn't)....and they didn't make me wait to "grow up" before exposing me to everything...but did wait until I was ready.

Least that's my take on stuff.

And are you hott?

Now, THERE'S the Dust I remember!

FireMedic, you've been here long enough to know that's his thing. Which I picked up also.

It's juuust jackass enough. Juuust funny enough. It's a Dust thing.

Yes, the fact she's 17 makes it just edgy enough, but it wouldn't be funny if it wasn't.

And not sure if you realized it, but by saying he's ACTUALLY hitting on an underage girl (which she apparently isn't, anyway), you're actually firing direct personal hits. One would expect a person to react strongly to this.

I'll let you two figure it out, but just throwing in some context/perspective.

Edited May 17, 2009 by AnthonyM83

[oz_paramedic_chick]

Ok i've briefly read through all these posts and here's my view. I'm 19, young for the EMS service. However, I am part of a kind of "revolution" in EMS in Australia. As we move towards tertiary education paramedics in general are becoming younger due to the fact they do not require life experience to be accepted. However, tertiary paramedic degrees do have reasonably high attrition rates (we started with approx. 50 and now down to 38 or so 18 months on). Also, I have already been exposed to a few situations where i've seen life experience come into play. One stick out case was a pscyh pt. The young naive person I am tried the softly softly approach...my mentor when for the "stop the bullshit and get in the truck" line. One qualified paramedic said to me "how do you think a mother's going to feel when it's a 20yo telling her they're sorry her kid died from SIDS?". Yes I know I will face opposition and there are certainly some barriers I will face by being a young paramedic. However, as a pt I would prefer a young paramedic who had empathy and knowledge than a 20 yr veteran who had had enough of the service and was simply hanging in to retirement, whinges everytime the pager goes off and fails to have empathy. I believe being younger does make it harder, however, I believe if you know it's what you really want to do then don't let people stop you. I know being a paramedic is what I really want to do and to those who say don't do it young because you lose the best years of your life I disagree. Do it young if you have the passion, you can still socialise with friends and have a life...just make sure you work to live not live to work. While I agree it's great to have enthusiasm and passion it's important not to become obsessed with it because then if you ever lost it it would be like losing your life. Create a balance between work and play. I think when it comes to young paramedics maturity plays a big role. There are people in my course who I am embarrased to be associated with because they're more interested in getting drunk at uni then turning up to lectures but in the end it's them who suffer...it is them who have lower skills. If you think it's the career for you go for it but remember there is still a world out there.

[Kiwiology]

As a "young" provider (at 23) I am going to play devils advocate here for a moment. There are a lot of young people out there in EMS who are very confident, competent and trustworthy EMTs and Paramedics.

There are also some who do raise a few genuine issues such as ...

- Very little (or zero) life experience and argubally associated to this, maturity

- Lack of English composition and a professional level of grammar

- Some just cannot talk to people on a professional interpersonal level

- A few I've seen just do not inspire confidence that they know what they are doing

I'm not saying I am some supermature, experienced, seen it all three times and done it twice burnt out old relic (not by any stretch of a dream, that's Dust's job ) but I've seen EMTs my age who lack the life experience to be able to think on thier feet or outside the box without calling telemetry or just sort of staring blankly going "ummm......", they get freaked out really easily because they have never come across the sight of guts, blood, death, gang members or some meth'd up bash freak being held down by the cops while you have to examine him.

While you can't generalize and lump all the eggs in one basket some of the young providers (and some of the older ones) I have seen just scare the crap out of me; I wouldn't let them near me with a band aid or fully authomated defibrillator if I were in the biggest, most coarse and detectable VF ever. They just don't have the maturity and what I'd call common sense to be out in the street dealing with crazies and sick people making complex clinical decisions.